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Millennials: Consider Looking Abroad for Tech Jobs

Michele Cuthbert is the Principal of Baker Creative, a brand architectural firm that practices a holistic branding approach which encompasses marketing, business, HR, public relations, social media and new media. Follow her on Twitter @BakerCreative or read the team’s blog.

Growing up in the midst of global markets and cultures makes millennials ideal candidates for international job opportunities. Upon graduation, many young professionals choose to take positions overseas, with varying effects on their careers.

Kacey Weinberg, 27, is a marketing professional working for Aspera GmbH, a software asset management company in Aachen, Germany. She moved in 2006 after spending her final semester in Singapore, earning a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with a focus on International Business.

“It was a childhood dream of mine to move away,” Weinberg says. “First to the East Coast. Then when I got older, it changed to overseas.”

The University of Southern California alumnus did not speak German when she decided to move; now, she is a fluent speaker and writer. But it wasn't necessary to learn the language — both jobs she's had in Germany required native English speakers.

Stepstone's Global Talent Barometer Survey 2011 reported a 7% uptick in mobility, with more people expressing a willingness to move abroad since 2006. The Stepstone study attributes much of this to a decrease in the number of baby boomers in the workforce, in conjunction with an increase in internationally mobile young professional workers.

Abroad in the Recession

Jose Castro was excited to try out his newly acquired international business skills when he felt London calling in 2008. The Global Business MBA grad from Pepperdine moved to the UK with his wife the after she was accepted into the Royal Veterinary College.

“We saw it as an incredible opportunity for both — her to study at a great school, and for me to get experience working in a different country, putting to use the skills I have learned in my Master’s program,” Castro says.

International job sites and search engines enable job seekers to find opportunities abroad more easily than in the past. But, as with workers across the globe, the Great Recession affected expatriates in varying ways, depending on their industry and local economy.

“The recession was a good thing for my job,” Weinberg says. “Germany fared the recession pretty well, but software asset management saves companies a lot of money. Many software publishers started to try to compensate for slow sales by auditing their customers, looking for situations where the businesses did not buy enough licenses to cover their use. This is something that software asset management helps to prevent. In the end, the recession lead to higher demand for Aspera’s products and know-how, which meant that Aspera did pretty well, and my job was not in danger.”

Castro’s job search in the UK fared much differently.

“When we made the decision to move [to London], I never anticipated it would take me so long to find a job,” Castro says. “It took me a year of searching.”

Castro found that job experience overseas is helpful when securing an initial position with international firms.

“My two biggest obstacles in finding a job were the lack of jobs because of the recession, and the lack of UK experience I had," he says. "I also later learned that employers must consider UK and European Union applicants before hiring someone from another country.”

Castro eventually landed a position with TechnologyGroup, an IT consultancy specializing in data management, virtualization, application delivery and building cloud environments for customers in the insurance, finance and e-gaming industry.

Going Back?

Both Castro and Weinberg consider their time abroad to be beneficial and anticipate they will return stateside at some point in the future.

“I love Germany, and it’s definitely my home,” Weinberg says. “But I will always be a California girl ... I would say Germany is my first home now and where I will live when I am old. But, I could see myself moving home for a couple years somewhere down the line.”

Castro feels moving back to the United States would be a wise move for him eventually: "There is more opportunity for upward mobility, and I hope the international experience I’ve gained here will help make me more marketable in the U.S.”

Have you searched for a job abroad? What was your experience like? Tell us in the comments.

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